A former lingerie factory is transformed into Arno Brandlhuber’s Antivilla in Potsdam, Germany.
Antivilla, the refurbished former German Democratic Republic lingerie factory „Ernst Lück“ at the Krampnitzsee, southwest of Berlin, questions the relationship between building regulations and standards, energy efficiency together with the idea re-use and adaptive living.
The gabled roof made of asbestos plates was removed and replaced by a newly designed flat one, which structurally functions as a beam, allowing for up to five meter wide openings in the existing walls, which emphasize the physical presence of the existing structure. Inside, the building was gutted — non-bearing walls were removed. A functional core, including bathroom, kitchen and sauna, supplements the upper floor. The sauna stove functions as the central point of differentiated climatic zones, which dissolve from the warmer inside, to the cooler outside and can be separated by translucent curtains. Therefore the generous spatial impression remains.
While in winter the heated space shrinks to a core area of approximately 70 sqm, it can expand in other seasons accordingly. In contrast to the climatic gradation, the light differentiates according to the functional needs. Thus, Antivlla is re-using & re-thinking Reyner Banham’s concept of „Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment“ from 1969, combining his two distinct principles of „generating space“: The existing structure representing the „constructional aspect“; the climatic gradation representing the „energetic aspect“.
